


Midnight Walks

by literarynonsensefics



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Elriel, F/M, i love these two so much, i've shipped them since acomaf, my children, they're my world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 01:38:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11887194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literarynonsensefics/pseuds/literarynonsensefics
Summary: When Elain's seer-ness gets her into trouble, Az helps out.





	Midnight Walks

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr @literarynonsense!

Elain spoke differently after the war with Hybern.  Most people didn’t notice, but most people didn’t notice a lot about Elain anyway.  Her sisters were occupied by their duties and roles and lives, and had a much easier time moving on.  But Elain couldn’t.  She clung to the past like she’d forget it, but her mind only became more and more insistent for the future.

Azriel had fought the same demons.  So when she started speaking more in the past tense—of memories instead of happenings—Azriel recognized himself.  He felt sadistically pleased that he had a twin in the darkness, especially one that seemed to radiate light.  But that was just another thing people couldn’t or wouldn’t notice about the middle Archeron sister: that she was more than she seemed.  

He found her wondering Velaris at midnight, murmuring nonsense to herself and wringing out her hands.  Her eyes were impossibly glazed—no longer the warm brown he was mesmerized by, but a milky gray.  When Azriel approached her, she didn’t acknowledge him.  Looking back, he didn’t think she knew he was there.  He was just another figure in her visions.

He was scared for her, of course.  Terrified.  That this flower-loving girl could be possessed so easily.  Maybe it was just his refusal to see it, but Elain didn’t look to be suffering.  He only flew her back to her temporary residence and hoped she wouldn’t escape into the night again.  He didn’t even think to mention it, until he caught her out again.

He didn’t see her until she was falling into the Sidra, and after that, he didn’t need to see anyway.  It was all instinct, instinct to open his wings and plunge into the river after her glazed eyes and fidgeting hands.  When he set her down and asked her,  _pleaded_  with her, to tell him what was happening, she didn’t respond.  So he brought her home, and did what he wished people had done in his moments of pain: stayed.  Eventually, her gaze cleared, and she became conscious enough to speak.

“Thank you.”

It broke him.  Elain shouldn’t have had to thank him for noticing.  For caring.  He dipped his head, standing to leave, when she reached out and caught his hand.  He froze.  Elain opened her mouth to say something, but closed it, and let his hand go.  As he left, he did a quick check on her windows to make sure they were locked.  Just in case.

He realized he was screwed when he didn’t go back to his apartment.  Instead, he sat outside her door until she was silent, and then flew out to the Sidra to the spot where she had flung herself into the water.  There was nothing spectacular about the spot, but Azriel wondered if Elain would be able to walk by it on another day, at another time, and feel nothing.  Maybe she didn’t even know where her subconscious had demanded she fall from.  But it had demanded nonetheless.

There wasn’t any extra special reasoning into waiting for her to fall asleep.  It just became a habit.  The first night of making sure she didn’t wander alone to the Sidra because a second, and a third.  He enjoyed wondering if she noticed; if her seer’s eyes caught of glimpse of who was standing outside her doorway each night, making sure she didn’t try to fling herself into the river.  If they caught a glimpse of why.  Azriel realized he would have liked to talk to her about it, because he wasn’t sure why he did it himself.

All he knew was that the middle Archeron sister had enraptured him, and he didn’t want to be free.  

Eventually, he missed a night.  Azriel lay in bed that night, something keeping him awake and restless.  It wasn’t until the darkness began to take him that he realized he had forgotten Elain.  His guilt haunted him for days.

It was impossible to know if she was sneaking out in the middle of the night.  Impossible to know if he was helping in any way.  But he felt indebted to this lovely thing, who looked at him with care and not scorn.  

One night, when he was half asleep himself, the door to Elain’s room creaked open.  He snapped awake, smoothing back his hair and hoping he didn’t look too fatigued.  But Azriel didn’t see surprise in Elain’s wide eyes.  She didn’t gasp, didn’t squeal, didn’t say anything at all.  Just sat down next to the Shadowsinger and leaned her head on his shoulder.  And shut her eyes.  

“I- Elain-”

“I sleep better when you stay outside my door,” she murmured.  “Sometimes I wish you’d come inside, ‘cause I think we’d both sleep well if you were near me.  And I knew for sure you were there.”

“Elain-”

“Shhh…”  She curled up close to him and he stilled.  “You drive the visions away.  Thank you.”

As she drifted off to sleep, he felt himself shed a tear.  He murmured a, “No.  Thank you,” and drifted off to sleep next to her.  


End file.
